If you are having issues getting a recovery password, registering or anything else, hit the Contact button or email godofchaos@gmail.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I think feminine Digimon can sometimes get a bad rap due to the rather bizarrely oversexualized artwork made for the various card video games in the series. Sure, they're as much a part of Digimon as anything else, but were probably aiming at a very specific older adult male fanbase. Amusingly enough, Metal Etemon gets the same treatment quite frequently in these kinds of games too. Most of the main artwork for female looking digimon, such as Angewomon, Ophanimon, Sakuyamon, Lilimon, Fairymon, Shutumon, and Razielmon get to pose like a badass or at least in a non-sexualized way. Most Digimon that do have a "sexy" aspect of them played up are usually described as being Succubi like, such as Rosemon, Lilithmon, and Bastemon. Of course, there are some Digimon that just cross the line, such as Beel Starrmon, Kinkakumon, Ceresmon Medium, Kuzuhamon: Miko Mode (which is notable for being drawn in a much more sexualized manner than Sakuyamon: Miko Mode, a much older Digimon), Sistermon Noir, Venusmon and Junomon. Every last one of these Digimon originates from said mobile card games. So basically, I think Bandai's attempt to cash in on some horny dudes playing freemium cards games got the better of them, which kind of came at the expense of good design sense. I do legitimately like some of the Digimon made for these games, particularly the Olympos XII members (yes, even Venusmon, Ceresmon, and Junomon!), so I can't get TOO mad, but... Bandai does drive me crazy sometimes.

Then again, those sexier designs and the focus on them in recent games is likely because they've moved the target audience to young adults (mainly men) and what do young adult men like? boobs.

I think that objectively, you could find examples of both good and bad character design in either of the main franchises. That being the case, it can be hard to say whether a whole franchise has terrible designs or not. You'd have to go through each individual case and evaluate it based on principles of what constitutes good character design and perhaps tally up which franchise has more "stinkers" vs "winners". (And even then it would likely be heavily influenced by the preferences of the person evaluating.)

On a less objective note, I tend to not like "toy-like" monster designs. (Shoutmon, his Xros forms, Balistamon, and Dorulumon being some of the prime offenders.) My personal preference with regard to monster design is toward anything that resembles a reptile/dragon/dino, beast, robot, insect, legendary creature, or some combination of the bunch, and with an aesthetic that leans toward fierce, realistic, and worn more than it does cute and stylized. "Monsterous" rather than "Cutesy", you might say. (Which is also why I dislike Gaomon, Lalamon and Agumon 2006.) That said, I do like what Digimon does in allowing something cutesy to turn into something fearsome and powerful.

By this standard, I'm also not as fond of Pokemon's designs, though I somehow like the original concept art better in some ways than the final designs. There are Pokemon I like the design of better than some Digimon, but that kind of goes back to my preference for certain kinds of monster themes. I do, however, appreciate the need for contrast and diversity in the designs for both franchises. The ones you don't like make you appreciate the ones you do like even more!

On a different note, I agree that the oversexualized female designs in Digimon are something I don't appreciate. Sure it makes sense from a marketing standpoint, but that doesn't automatically make it okay in my opinion. (And really this is an issue that is more far-reaching than the likes of the Digimon franchise, and could be the start of a never-ending thread itself. So I don't really blame Bandai too much for it being a thing.)

Digimon gets by on strength of concept and the solid writing of the show compared to Pokemon, which was more formulaic. But Digimon couldn't keep that up forever, while each iteration of Pokemon was able to keep the interest up.

Keep interested up who? Cause to be honest, I don't think Pokémon show draws the attention of many people who is above its twenties. I know many Pokémon fans of my age who even play Pokémon videogames, and don't care at all about the show because...it's boring and too childish (?) I guess.

Originally Posted by Kataphrut

Ironically, both franchises have been on a bit of a reversal in recent years. Digimon designs have gotten smoother and more brightly coloured, while Pokemon designs have escalated, getting more detailed. To use an infamous example, put Trubbish or Garbador alongside Numemon, and the latter actually looks more like a Pokemon design. Numemon's not even new either.

Is this a garbage bag? Seriously? Is this what you call good designs? I thought Calendamon's design was lame till I saw this thing...And by the way, searching for the image I found another one whis is also stupid as hell:

In another vein, I must be the only ones who actually adores a lot the most humanoid female Digimon lol Don't get me wrong, I like the design themselves, I don't like much when they are oversexualized because of fanervice. E.g.:

yeah for Lilithmon it´s acceptable, for womons like Angewomon it makes less sense.
i like quite a bunch of femons though sometimes it just gets ridiculous, for one i seem to be the only one who likes Cho Hakkaimon and her being sexualised makes like no sense at all.

Design is so hard to debate about since everything's subjective...you can talk about design direction but when it comes down to individual designs it's all about taste really.
For example I LOVE TRUBBISH and really, I love gen 5 a lot but gen 5 gets a lot of really vocal haters of their designs, which I can kinda see where they're coming from..

I like Digimon's over-the-top, overly detailed, anything goes kind of direction, which is why I'm still here lol but objectively, Pokemon definitely has better design cohesion and direction overall. Like has been mentioned, there is a style shift between the first and latest gens, but they still feel like they belong in the same universe. (I do think Appmon does the cohesion thing pretty well too, but the designs were all designed for that specific season and not over time so it doesn't really count)

That said, since I like creating fan Digimon, I really like Digimon's 'anything goes' direction; with fanmade Pokemon, people always try to go for that 'Pokemon' style which is a nice challenge to try and adapt to another style, but if you don't manage to achieve that style well enough then your fanmade Pokemon looks 'off' and won't look like it fits with the other official Pokemon.
On the other hand, because Digimon is such a mishmash of styles to begin with, fan Digimon creators have crazy freedom in designing Digimon..they can be humanoid, monstrous, overly detailed, nice and simple, etc etc. In all sorts of different styles, and they still feel like they could fit into the universe which is something I find really, really cool about Digimon and possibly why I'm still into fanmade Digimon creation now. I don't really participate in Digimon OCTs now but it's always awesome seeing all these crazy different styles of fan Digimon interact in the same space.

Design is so hard to debate about since everything's subjective...you can talk about design direction but when it comes down to individual designs it's all about taste really.
For example I LOVE TRUBBISH and really, I love gen 5 a lot but gen 5 gets a lot of really vocal haters of their designs, which I can kinda see where they're coming from..

I like Digimon's over-the-top, overly detailed, anything goes kind of direction, which is why I'm still here lol but objectively, Pokemon definitely has better design cohesion and direction overall. Like has been mentioned, there is a style shift between the first and latest gens, but they still feel like they belong in the same universe. (I do think Appmon does the cohesion thing pretty well too, but the designs were all designed for that specific season and not over time so it doesn't really count)

That said, since I like creating fan Digimon, I really like Digimon's 'anything goes' direction; with fanmade Pokemon, people always try to go for that 'Pokemon' style which is a nice challenge to try and adapt to another style, but if you don't manage to achieve that style well enough then your fanmade Pokemon looks 'off' and won't look like it fits with the other official Pokemon.
On the other hand, because Digimon is such a mishmash of styles to begin with, fan Digimon creators have crazy freedom in designing Digimon..they can be humanoid, monstrous, overly detailed, nice and simple, etc etc. In all sorts of different styles, and they still feel like they could fit into the universe which is something I find really, really cool about Digimon and possibly why I'm still into fanmade Digimon creation now. I don't really participate in Digimon OCTs now but it's always awesome seeing all these crazy different styles of fan Digimon interact in the same space.

You described it all pretty well It's subjective.

BTW, I really appreciate your sprite uploads on Wikimon. And since Singapore is one of my absolute favorite countries, I couldn't help but wonder if you actually live there or just state it for some other reason? Cus if you live there, I got many questions. I dream of living in Singapore some day.